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Working with Smart Shapes


Clipart

Smart Shape are located in the Clipart tab of the Source panel (Window > Clipart > Smart Shapes). To add a Smart Shape to your design, drag and drop it onto the canvas.

The difference between a regular image and Smart Shape is that the latter can vary its shape in the Geometry tab of the Inspector. Also, you can insert an image into a Smart Shape.

Most tools that work with ordinary images are also applicable to Smart Shapes.

Operations common for different objects are described in Basic Operations on Objects.

 

Filling a Smart Shape with an Image

A Smart Shape can be filled not only with solid color, but also with an image. To insert an image into a Smart Shape, select the shape, and drag and drop an image from the Clipart into the shape. The same way you can insert images from a folder on your hard disk. Finally, choose one of Scale Type options.

 

Scale Type

Scale type affects how the image will be modified when inserted into the Smart Shape (blue frame in pictures below).

ScaleType1 Original Smart Shape
ScaleType2 Original image
ScaleType3 Fill – does not change the aspect ratio of the image. A part of the image may not be seen in the Smart Shape.
ScaleType4 Stretch - the whole image gets into the Smart Shape, the image may be deformed.
ScaleType5 Fit - the whole image gets into the Smart Shape, the proportion of sides will not change. Blank space may be left inside the Smart Shape.

 

Special Properties

Some Smart Shapes have the Curve and Side Count parameters adjustable in the Geometry tab of Inspector.

Adjust Smart Shape

For example, the 5-point Star can change number of rays by altering the Side Count parameter and the angle of rays by altering the Curve parameter.

Star

In addition to Smart Shapes, the library contains a collection of circles, rectangles, arrows and other vector images. They are located in the Symbols category of the built-in clipart.


Smart Shape or Image?

A rectangular Smart Shape filled with an image may look like the image itself. You may need to know for sure what was used in the design.

Smart Shapes (when selected) have all the Fill items enabled in the drop-down list in the Fill & Shadow tab of Inspector. When you select an image, Image Fill is not enabled. Use this to distinguish these objects.

 


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